Thank you all so much for your reviews! I've gotton ten reviews, which is really good for a new story like mine! Thanks for sticking with Delilah, even if it has only been for three chapters. I have a plot, so it shouldn't take that long to update.

Now, read on!

Gorgeous banner by charme. at TDA!

Remember when old ones died and new were born
And life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
And broke each other's hearts

-Alan Jackson

“We love you, Deandra. We’ll miss you.” Deandra’s mother pulled her in for a hug and her father gave her a warm smile.

“Bye, Mum!” Deandra said, unable to mask her excitement. She was going back to Hogwarts. “Bye, Dad!”

Once on board the scarlet engine, she scoped out the train, trying to find her friends. After about ten minutes, though, she accepted that she just wasn’t going to find them before the train started moving, so she plopped down in a compartment and pulled out a book.

After the train ride, she spotted them moving toward the carriages. “Aidan! Al! Guys!” She called, but they ignored her.

Deandra felt confused. Had she done something wrong? She wracked her brains, but she couldn’t remember what she had done to upset them. In fact, she couldn’t remember anything about the month of May last year at all.

Tears of panic pricked at Deandra’s eyes. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she remember?

*

I sat bolt upright in bed, sure I was back in second year. But to my relief, it was teenage girls I saw in the dormitory, not twelve year olds.

After that day, nothing had been the same for me. They had gone from bad to worse. After ignoring me, they began teasing me, and after teasing was bullying, which eventually caused me to hop the pond.

Arianna was right. I needed to be committed to this. I could not forget what they had done.

*

I was making my way to Charms the next day, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a boy with wavy brown hair and hazel eyes in front of me.

“Sorry—do I know you?” He asked, his eyes questioning.

“I don’t think so.” I said unsurely.

“Right—sorry.” He said. “You just looked like my old Potions partner—but you couldn’t be, she transferred away a couple years ago.”

Now it was coming back to me. He was Tyler Paras. My year. He had been fairly okay to me. He had never exactly stood up for me when I was still Deandra, but he definitely wasn’t mean.

“Oh, I know you.” I said. “You’re—my friend—she has the biggest crush on you—” I stopped talking. He was turning bright red. “Just forget I said anything.” I said with a laugh. “See you around, Tyler.” I gave him a little wave and continued walking to Charms.

After a lesson on the theory behind the Disillusionment Charm, I grabbed Cinda and Arianna and led them to a shortcut, hidden by a door that was pretending to be a wall.

I addressed Arianna first. “I think I’m going to do it.”

A smile spread across her face. “That’s great, Del!” I raised my eyebrow, and she said hurriedly, “I decided you needed a nickname, and this one was the first thing that popped into my head.”

I shrugged.

“Wait,” Cinda interrupted. “What is she going to do, exactly?”

Arianna explained her plan to Cinda, beaming as she did so. “It’s infallible!” She finished.

Cinda was not convinced. “Infallible?” She asked incredulously. “Infallible? What if Delilah doesn’t want to follow through? What if she gets cold feet? Then she dies, you idiot!”

“That is incredibly idiotic of you.” Cinda sniffed. “And I will say ‘I told you so.’”

“Duly noted.” I said. “Will you be our Bonder?”

“I suppose I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Not really.” Arianna confirmed brightly.

Cinda muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, “Idiots,”

“Alright,” Arianna said. She grasped my right hand with hers, and glanced at Cinda. “We’re waiting on you.”

Cinda took one last breath, and took out her wand, pointing it at our linked hands. “Go ahead.”

“Delilah Miller,” Arianna began. “Do you swear that you will take revenge on Aidan Clarke, Albus Potter, and Scorpius Malfoy?”

“I do,” I said. A thick tongue of flame shot from Cinda’s wand and encircled me and Arianna’s wrists.

“Is that all?” I asked when the flame vanished.

“It should be.” Arianna said. “I guess we’ll know if you break it.”

“Comforting thought,” Cinda remarked, glaring at Arianna. “Well, this has been fun. But if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to History of Magic.”

She departed the shortcut first. Arianna sent me an apologetic look. “I have to get to Divination. See you later.” She swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and headed toward the North Tower.

I headed toward the dungeons. I had Potions next.

For the first time, I felt completely sure about my plan this year. With the Unbreakable Vow, there was no way I could back out. Arianna had been right; I had needed a greater form of commitment. Now I could finally work on getting closer to them without fear.

I got to talking with Rose during the class, but of course, that wasn’t as important as getting to know the boys. Rose wasn’t a key part to my plan, although, I suppose if I were to get close to the four of them, it would be good to get close to the one that would be the most vital to my plan’s cousin.

After Potions, Rose and I had Transfiguration. As we entered the classroom, I noticed that Albus was sitting in the middle of the room, at a desk next to another Ravenclaw boy I didn’t know. I eyed him as Rose and I chose seats near the front--from what I remembered about Rose, a typical move for her. I used to be jealous of her bravery. I was ridiculously nervous about teachers calling on me for answers.

“So,” I said casually. “You and Al are cousins?”

She glanced at me. “Well, duh. Unless, you know, you’ve been living under a rock for a few years, you’d know that. We’re all over the papers.” Her mouth turned down at her own mention of the papers. I got the feeling that neither Rose nor Albus liked the press or the embarrassing stories that were printed about them. I had not been living under a rock for a few years, and I had seen more than a couple particularly nasty ones.

“I mean, I know you two are cousins.” I amended. “Wrong question. Are you close?”

“Yes.” Rose answered, absently resting the tip of her quill on her lower lip. “We’re the same age, so Al and I were usually thrown together during family events. Plus the fact that our families are close, so I see him almost as much as I see Hugo.”

“It must be nice, having someone that’s related to you be that close to you.”

“Yeah,” Rose agreed. “It’s pretty awesome. I don’t have to worry that he’ll jump me or anything. Or that he’s just trying to get to know my family through me.”

The silence that followed this sentence was a bit awkward. I knew what she was wondering in that moment: Was I one of those people?

Well, I certainly was not going to jump Rose.

Although, in a twisted way, I was going through her to get to know her family.

But Rose was actually someone that I might befriend. Getting to know Albus and his friends was an added bonus.

“Why do you care so much about Al, anyway?” Rose asked. “Do you like him or something?”

“No,” I said, feeling the blush rise to my cheeks.

“Your cheeks say differently.”

“Shut up,” I said, chucking a quill in her direction. “It’s none of your business.”

I was saved when Professor McGonagall entered the room, not bothering to make her usual first-day show of turning from a cat to a woman in front of us. The seventh-years had seen it too many times to be in awe of it.

As Rose looked to the front, I smiled to myself. That was exactly what I wanted her to think.

I admit, that chapter was short and a bit fillerish. Except for the Unbreakable Vow. That was important.